2 Years & 3 Months into Daddyhood
Inspired by this…
… I decided not to just post this pic to Facebook, but also to say a few words about its poignancy and context.
I took this photo on my phone during my lunch break, after my daily chat with Jo. While talking, I was noticing the beautiful leaves at my feet. I particularly liked the red and gold. I was going to just take the pic, share it with my Facebook friends, and that would be that. The sharing of beauty is, of course, a noble enough aspiration, but upon reading the above-linked blog entry, a deeper poignancy was realised, particularly in relation to the context of this photo/these leaves.
Flandrumhill’s blog entry is about the symbolic significance of “letting go” during nature’s “letting go” of leaves and so on in autumn. My red and gold leaves were found near the special school where I work… and I have come to realise that, in working in education, particularly special education, “letting go” of assumptions and prior expectations is, and will probably continue to be, a regular occurrence. The children I work with have been diagnosed and labeled, with ASD, SEBD and other acronyms, but they are far, far more than the sum of their diagnoses. They are, like the leaves, beautiful, enormously varied, individuals.
I did, of course, already know this, but thank you Flandrumhill and the autumn leaves for the reminder!
the Progenitor 
2 comments
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October 17, 2010 at 12:09 pm
flandrumhill
Pepsoid, I didn’t know that you were now working in special education. I’m so happy to have given you some inspiration. All of us who work with young children need to have hope breathed into us in order to cope with the daily challenges.
When I began substituting as a preschool teacher a year ago I was amazed at how unique each child is at such a young age.
Your leaves look so perfect compared to the tattered blotchy ones we have here this autumn. Beautiful!
October 18, 2010 at 5:14 am
pepsoid
Well I have to say that most of leaves here are “tattered” and “blotchy,” but the two I photographed were something of an exception, so I just had to snap’em!
I started volunteering in a special school earlier this year, then on the strength of that got my first paid position starting this September. This was after deciding to use the impetus of last year’s redundancy to change my career. It does, of course, have its challenges, and requires far more emotional investment than office work, but the rewards are immense – as I’m sure you know from working as a preschool teacher!
It’s funny that you started working in education at about the same time I decided I was due for a career change… and about the same time we discovered each other’s blogs? Actually I think that was a bit longer ago, but I’ll take the synchronicity! 😉